Protective means are frequently employed between shipping cartons and objects being shipped therewithin, such protective means in some cases required by shipping regulations. For instance, corrugated paper, folded at the edges of the object being shipped, has been employed heretofore for spacing an object such as a piece of furniture from the inside of its shipping carton. The folded article thus formed is designed to absorb shock while at the same time reasonably securely positioning the item of furniture or other object within the carton.
The corrugated means heretofore employed have either consisted of hand-folded, corrugated sheets of material, built up and folded along scored lines to provide a shipping protector, or in other instances have comprised prefolded laminated, glued strips. Of course, the hand folded construction requires considerable labor in the actual separate hand manufacture of each protector. Also, either the multiple laminated or hand-folded device may require appreciable material and moreover the material will come into contact with the edge of the furniture or article being shipped whereby a sharp blow can cause undesired damage to such edge, or such direct contact may cause abrasion to the finish of the article during shipment. Styrofoam edge guards have also been employed. However, these devices tend to be more expensive, and often fail after sustaining a sharp blow.